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TIDBITS by RALPH SHEALY

ROUND AND AROUND

Last Thursday, I noticed my embarq.com email address wasn’t working. It was no big deal. I know email accounts are occasionally down for maintenance. Friday, I tried again. I had to log in, and after I gave my email address and password, I got the message that one of the other did not match their records. Well, it’s the same email address and password I’ve used since I got the account. I saw a “chat” option, so I tried that. I’d much rather chat than hit all the different numbers on a phone call. So, I got “So and So,” and I told her my problem. When I got though, she asked if I this was a home or business account. I told her business, and she said I should be taking to “Sue and Sue,” and transferred me over. I told “Sue and Sue” all the details and she said she couldn’t help and gave me a PHONE NUMBER to call! So, I called and hit number for English, and then say “yes” or press “one” for several times. I finally got to speak to a human being, and gave him my story, and was told he was NOT who I needed to talk to, and gave me ANOTHER phone number. He probably heard me crying, and said, “I’ll transfer you.” The phone went silent. After awaiting for awhile, I determined my transfer had apparently absconded to another world. Thankfully, I wrote down the new number before the transfer, so I dialed it. If we didn’t get school news at this email address, I would have said the heck with it. After going through several segments of button pressing, I got a human again, and this time I got results. Apparently, my account had been inundated with spam emails, around 3500, and it had been shut down. I got a new password and the account was opened back up. I asked the helpful fellow how I was supposed to know my email had been shut down? He said, “That’s right. We couldn’t send you an email, could we?” I hung up and logged into my email account with my new password and it opened right up. I had to delete the 3500 spams, but the email now works fine. The problem I had is there is no button for email problems when you call. I finally got hooked up with the right person by going to internet repair, even though my internet was working fine. I’m not complaining. All of my “So and So’s” were very nice. I guess I really to blame the person from Nigeria who bombed my account. Never a dull moment!

DIFFERENT WORLD

I get emails from all over the state, and one last week amused me. The Charleston Library was promoting its Books for Beer campaign. The way it works is you bring one slightly used book to a certain establishment, and get one beer for your generosity. The Library is smart enough to put a one beer limit. I’m sure some would bring a set of encyclopedias and try to get a case. The email amused me, because as a lifelong resident of Saluda County, I could see the reaction if the Saluda Library ran a similar promotion. One thing is for certain, Mrs. Lois Addy would roll over in her grave. Before there were :”Just Say No” clubs and “Red Ribbon Weeks” in Saluda schools, there was Mrs. Addy. She was president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for over 50 years here, and each year she visited the schools to teach the students about the consequences of alcohol abuse. She also headed up the youth branch of the WCTU, the LTL. I know I saw Mrs. Addy each of the 12 years I went to school in Saluda. I can’t remember if she visited each classroom of the elementary school, or we walked to the Annex auditorium for an assembly. She did speak in the gym for assemblies at Saluda High School. This little lady got everyone’s attention, and everyone respected her. She had a joyful life and didn’t need any stimulants. She once told me she ate peanut butter and drank orange juice everyday. Today, many health care professionals recommend a glass of wine every night before you go to bed. It is supposed to be good for your heart. Mrs. Addy didn’t need it. She lived to be 109!!! That peanut butter and orange juice did the trick!

BRACKETOLOGY

It’s amazing as we go into the NCAA basketball Sweet 16, the best bracket on the Yahoo challenge is 41 out of 48. I went 33 out of 48 and had a 16,392 ranking. There have been some astounding upsets this year. The biggest was when Number 16 seed University of Maryland - Baltimore County beat Number One ranked Virginia by 20 points in the opening round. No 16 seed had ever beaten a Number One seed previously. Number One had been 135-0. Virginia entered into a forever realm no team wants. The No. 15 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed eight times in tournament history. Unfortunately, one of those number twos was Carolina. It’s funny how sports enter into more important things in life. I remember exactly where I was when the Gamecocks lost to Coppin State in 1997. My parents were meeting in Greenwood with a doctor to discuss Daddy’s impending cancer treatments, and I was waiting for them in my car in the parking lot, while listening to the game. I will never forgive the Carolina basketball team for contributing to one of the worst days of my life. I am sure there are many Virginia fans who will carry the loss to UMBC with them to the day they die. Some things you just don’t get over. The tournament has been fun as usual. Clemson is representing our state in the men’s Sweet 16, and Carolina is representing us in the women’s. Clemson has looked every impressive, especially in the blow-out win over Auburn. I’m an SEC homer, but I was pulling for Charleston to beat Auburn and set up a match-up between Clemson and Charleston. I bet the Cougars would have given Clemson a better game. Two of the number one seeds have already lost, so a clear cut favorite is hard to pick this year. In my bracket I had Virginia playing Kansas for the title. Maybe, the Jayhawks will make it. Of course, they have to beat Clemson first!

HOW STRANGE

I have enjoyed posting pictures from the scrapbook of the late Louise Winn Senterfeit on Facebook. Terry Winn gave me the scrapbook at church a couple of Sundays ago. Most of the clippings are of Louise’s friends and relatives. On the first page of the scrapbook is a photo of my Aunt Doris Sheppard’s wedding announcement. Aunt Doris and Louise were first cousins. Louise had several pages of soldiers, including stories on those who had died. One picture was of Lt. Charles Crump of Newberry, who died in the war at the age of 27. What is so unusual about this is Aunt Doris’ son Gene married Lt. Crump’s daughter Priscilla. There, of course, was no way Louise would have known this in the 40’s when she started the scrapbook. Priscilla never met her father. Her mother was pregnant when her father was shipped off to war. We cannot figure out why Louise would have saved a clipping of a Newberry soldier, but isn’t that something?